Into the Unknown
by MerelyCurious
Summary: Oneshot inspired by "The Manual of Detection" by Jedediah Berry  2009 . Unwin comes to terms with his new life traveling with Caligari's Carnival.


**Into the Unknown**

by MerelyCurious

Disclaimer: This is inspired by "The Manual of Detection" (2009) by Jedediah Berry. The characters are therefore not mine.

...

Seated on the bed and contemplating his situation, Unwin removed his hat and placed it next to the green-shaded lamp on his bedside table. That one last installment in his new living quarters he'd been unable to do without. He may have lost his old job and given himself another, cut himself free from the Agency's strings, but he'd never give up the notion that dozed lightly at the back of his mind, the notion that he was and always would be a clerk. Since returning to that job would be impossible, not to mention unthinkable, Unwin decided that he'd make a compromise between the notion and his conscious thoughts by allowing a few of the old bits of décor to accompany him on his new journey with Caligari's (now Penelope's) Traveling Carnival.

Unwin's caravan shifted and bumped slightly as he lay down on the bed, fully dressed, and closed his eyes. The strange mental fizzing didn't occur right away, but as Unwin drifted deeper into sleep, the feeling or sound –it could have been either- increased to a roar and Unwin nudged it gently with his mind to discern its source. The tangible bell-like ringing cast out across his awareness and past the corners of his mind; the dreamer was owner of a vast oneiric terrain: an elephant.

Pushing with his hands before him, Unwin slipped through the walls of the dream like air into an expanding bubble. As he exited the between-space, the roaring died away, the dream shutting him into its immensity. Unwin began to walk quickly with no particular purpose, yet with the sense that walking slowly would be less than productive. Still he had the mind of a clerk.

Drawing further into the central dream space, the dream began to unfold before him, the petals of its reality curling up and outward to form lush green fields of waving grass. Trees danced in the distance like undiscovered wishes and the heat made both them and Unwin waver unsteadily. Unwin found himself squinting to understand a world he'd never seen and yearned to know, yet feared. As the wind bent and lifted the grass, dust swirled from the earth and solidified. Towering buildings of concrete and cold glass rose up into the sky, casting shadows across the softly waving grass. Now when the wind blew, the grass whispered conspiratorially against the formidable glass facades.

"You know, you're not going to find anything of importance in here, Detective." A gentle voice called out from the doorway of one of the buildings.

Unwin, clerk-gone-detective, spun on his heels and scanned the grass-choked streets between the buildings, finally spotting the source of the voice. "Penelope. I still don't understand."

Penelope smiled down at the skyward-reaching grass and casually stood, stepping away from the chilling shadows behind her. Emerging into the scalding sunlight of the dream, she scanned Unwin's unyielding face. "Why you're here, or why office buildings have suddenly sprouted into existence in the middle of the veldt?"

"How you manage to follow me into my every dream without my noticing."

"That's irrelevant. No one but me could accomplish that, and you can trust me: I'd never keep you prisoner here like my father did Detective Sivart. Besides, this isn't entirely your dream. " Penelope ran her hands through the sunlit grass that reached to her waist. "Been to Africa, have you?"

Unwin silently watched her hands pass through the grass as if they might yield the answer to her sardonic query. When she returned her hands to her hips, he raised his eyes to her face and sighed.

"I suppose I am curious why I'm here. This place…" Unwin trailed off, surveying his surroundings again.

"It calls to you, doesn't it? You know it's not real, only a dream, and yet you feel that something in this dream echoes a reality that you've never known. Is that it?"

Unwin remained silent, still surveying.

Penelope waited a moment for a response, but when it became apparent that he'd give none, she continued, "I don't pretend to know you, but I know the dreams of these elephants. They're so clear and so vast that they'd never notice if someone else slipped inside to share the dream, influence it even. The elephants feel what you're wishing for and make it a part of their dreams. For that reason, many who discover the ways of oneiric detection find themselves inexplicably drawn to these unusual dreamers' astral territory." Penelope once again watched Unwin's face for a response or a reaction, but Unwin still waited, listening intently. "That would indicate that either you've been wishing for office buildings and grass, or what the elephant has already projected, you find desirable. As you've never seen these settings before, I can only conclude that this dream is purely the elephant's and not yours." Pausing again, Penelope moved toward Unwin until only a few paces separated them. Unwin's face was still unreadable. "Why is that?"

Unwin shrugged. "I'm a detective and I've made the decision, for the sake of further investigation, to go into the field?"

Penelope rolled her eyes. "Funny." Sighing, she scanned the tall, cold buildings around them. After a moment, she glanced back at Unwin, whose face seemed as unreadable as those of the buildings. "I've a theory, though a theory does nothing until put into practice."

Unwin waited for her to continue, tacit as usual.

"These elephants have spent their lives caught between the home they used to know and the one in the city where the carnival set down. Perhaps, as they are caught between those two realities, so too are you."

Unwin saved the shrug this time and instead acknowledged Penelope's words with a brief glance toward her face before his gaze returned to the buildings. "Perhaps. I… I was a clerk in the Agency for so long…"

Penelope's mouth opened in a silent _ah_ of understanding and slowly, hesitantly, she closed the distance between them, placing her hand on Unwin's shoulder. "If that's the reason that you're seeking solace in these dreams, then perhaps you'd be well-advised to move past these buildings and into the veldt itself?"

Unwin started suddenly and his eyes snapped to the gap of greenish light waiting at the end of the rows of office buildings. "I don't know what's out there." He murmured under his breath.

"Oh?" Penelope dropped her hand from his shoulder, following his gaze with her own. "You don't know what's out there? Isn't that exactly what detectives are for?" She peered closely at Unwin. "You, Detective, have made a decision and you must keep to it. Go out there and discover the unknown. Maybe you'll find what you've been looking for." Penelope took Unwin by the ink-stained hand and began leading him toward the light. At first, she had to pull to get Unwin moving, but he soon matched her pace and, after a few moments, she stopped and let go. Unwin continued, drawn inexorably toward the unknown.

"That's it, Detective. You know what to do from here. Just make sure that you do it." She called, receding from the dream. Unwin reached the gap and, taking a small breath, stepped from the shade into the dazzling sunlight.

Back in Unwin's caravan, the green-shaded light snapped off beside Unwin's supine form and a soft rustling noise left the space in silence as someone exited the caravan. Unwin sighed in his sleep and, for once, slumbered peacefully.

...

A/N: "The Manual of Detection" by Jedediah Berry was actually an academic reading requirement for me and both the book and the impending challenges in my life inspired me to write this oneshot. When living life the way one is comfortable with becomes impossible and change is inevitable, let the change happen, keep an open mind, and be willing to discover new wonders in the unknown.

Thanks for reading and feel free to review!

-MerelyCurious


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